1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design, manufacture and use of passive printed circuit boards.
2. Background of the Related Art
Currently there is no cost effective way for a system management device (IMM, BMC, etc) to track or read PCB manufacturing information (build date, lot number, etc) on cards with no active components (such as a EEPROM, programmable logic, or micro-controller). Cards that meet this billing are typically mid-planes boards that are designed for high reliability and wish not to use active components that may compromise failure rates. Typically these boards only have press fit connectors on them. One step further, these cards typically do not go through a solder process.
The most commonly accepted solution to this problem is the creation and use of a “personality” card. A personality card is a smaller separate card with an EEPROM that is attached to the passive board with a connector and stores the mid-plane's vital product data. The use of a personality card is an expensive way to identify manufacturing information about a PCB, because it requires an additional connector set and development/production costs associated with the personality card.